Metadata and Archives

“There is no place you or I can go, to think about or not think about, to summon the presences of, or recollect the absences of slaves . . . There is no suitable memorial, or plaque, or wreath, or wall, or park, or skyscraper lobby. There’s no 300-foot tower, there’s no small bench by the road. There is not even a tree scored, an initial that I can visit or you can visit in Charleston or Savannah or New York or Providence or better still on the banks of the Mississippi. And because such a place doesn’t exist . . . the book had to.” -Toni Morrison

“All memory – even personal memory – is a social process, shaped by the various groups (family, religious, geographical, etc.) ”

–The Social Frameworks of Memory (1925) Maurice Halbwachs

Key Due Dates:

FRIDAY, 10/4: UNIT 2 FEEDER 1 DUE BY MIDNIGHT

MONDAY, 10/14: UNIT 2 FEEDER 2 DUE BY MIDNIGHT

THURSDAY, 10/24: UNIT 2 PROJECT DUE/ TRIANGLE DIGITAL HUMANITIES INSTITUTE

Unit 2: Metadata and Archives

Genre

Purpose

Audience

Writer’s Role

Rhetorical Situation

Academic Poster

Inform audience about your process and how items and potential research questions can be generated within Migration Memorial Database.

University Community

Digital Humanities

Student

You are a Digital Humanities student who is contributing to an online database and wants to guide a user through the database by telling a story about a few items in the archive. You then want to communicate the process of research and writing that went into your exhibit.

migrationmemorials.trinity.duke.edu

The Migrations Memorial is a multi-course collaborative experiment hosted by the Migrations Lab at the Franklin Humanities Institute and English Department at Duke University. The goal is to build a digital database of memorials that can be accessed and searched freely to begin to ask new questions about memory and migration.

The project was inspired by the lack of reference materials available for students and teachers of memorials, whether experiential, abstract, or traditional. This project explores what it means to “make History” through collecting and analyzing information about memorials dedicated to migration. The project is currently in the process of collecting and organizing information about memorials to migration on the web, bringing together records from formal sources, like the National Parks Services and the Historical Marker Database, and informal sources, like Yelp and other social media platforms. By developing an archive of memorials dedicated to transiency, we seek to develop innovative research into better understanding what, why, and how we memorialize, as well as how publics encounter the past and their envisioned migrant history.

In addition to a database of memorials, the open-access digital platform that we are using allows for collaborative exhibit curation and presentation.

Step 1 (9/30-10/2):

We will learn how to add items into the database using the following categories:

Memorial Description (an individual or institution)
Institution
Official/Unofficial
Date of Dedication
Date Refers to (temporal tags)
URL
Physical Aspects
Themes
Nation-State (ethnographic tags)
Location

Reference Document

We will find memorials using the following sources:

Yelp/Trip Advisor

http://openplaques.org/– Open source, user contributed database of memorial plaques.

https://www.nps.gov/nr/research/data_downloads.htm– US National Park Service Data

Search Engines

Step 2(10/04/19):

Video: Adding Items into the Migrations Memorial Website

UNIT 2 FEEDER 1: Contribute at least 3 “items” to the Migrations Memorials.

You will also strive for good photo quality that is not muddled or pixilated. Strive to find “open-source” or “creative commons licensing” on all photographs uploaded to the database. You must cite all material.
When uploading the material to the database, you are also required to apply accurate descriptions and metadata for your contribution. You will receive a presentation guiding you on this and we will also edit and revise metadata in class.UNIT 2 FEEDER 1 DUE AT MIDNIGHT

Step 3 (10/07-10/11):

Select 3-5 different items in the archive to use in an argument about how we remember migration. Think about what is interesting in the items you selected and what research questions they could help answer.

Begin to find 2-3 sources that would help your argument.

Step 5 (10/14/19):

UNIT 2 FEEDER 2 DUE AT MIDNIGHT

Digital Exhibit

Next, you will create a digital exhibit that relates to your research question. In the process, you will need to choose a title, describe the project, describe individual works represented and craft an eye and ear-catching collection that tells a story about the connection between migration memorial contributions and the discussions we’ve been having about memory.

Please look at these exhibits as examples:

https://migrationmemorials.trinity.duke.edu/migration-memorials-memory

You should use around 3-4 different items from the archive for your exhibit.

The exhibit should be between 500-750 words

Step 6 (10/24)

UNIT 2 PROJECT DUE

Academic Poster

Poster sessions provide us with a great opportunity to interact, inform and develop networks of people with similar interests. It is one of several ways that scholars and professionals communicate their work. Often seen as a simple communication tool, poster sessions are a great way to communicate your methodology and research.

We will translate your exhibit into an academic poster. Please use these templates:

PowerPoint_Poster_Template

InDesign Poster Template Folder

While you can abide by traditional conventions of academic posters, I would suggest reviewing the following article for ideas on how to construct a unique poster:

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/06/11/729314248/to-save-the-science-poster-researchers-want-to-kill-it-and-start-over

Here are some sample student posters:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15KdIexRKdAaHc2WkmlkcWkkzcM60s4gJ/view

Final Crusoe Poster

Team3_Poster

Here is the Rubric used to grade the assignment.

Unit 2: Remembering the Past